streetsquid

Hi all,
Finished up with most of the chipped paint effects using the technique described in an earlier post. This process is time consuming and can easily make or break your weathering. I mentioned earlier that I have not yet mastered this technique, and I'm somewhat happy with the finished result. Still lots of room for improvement. I like my vehicles heavily weathered, so this may be heavier than you would choose to do. But the method remains the same.

At first glance this effect may seem a bit stark or too pronounced, but don't worry we're not quite done yet, and the last few steps we do will help bring blend of these painting and weathering elements together. Next we'll move onto a simple method for creating surface scratches in the paint.

streetsquid

This next step truly is the easiest way to get realistic looking scratches. We're going to add surface scratches to the paint using colored pencils. The only trick here is to use a higher quality pencil. Most cheap pencil have an hard lead, and therefore not much pigment comes off unless you use a lot of pressure.

I use Berol Prismacolor pencils, and these guys are expensive. You can find Berol Brand at any good art supply store, including Michael's. I got these when I was an Art Major in college, so I'm not sure any of you would want to invest in a set for the relatively small amount of use you would get from them strictly using them in model making. These pencils are sold in several size sets ranging from about a 12-120 pencils in the set. A 60 pencil set, which is what I own, will set you back about $75 US Dollars. Some fine Art Supply Store do sell them individually, but they are harder to find.

Choosing several colors, one slightly lighter than the desert yellow, one close to the grey/brown I chose to represent the exposed medal, and another yellow ochre color slightly darker than the desert yellow. I sharpen the pencil to a good point. Then with the pencil held lightly I poke or jab at the surface of the model. Because you have a light grip, as the pencil makes contact with the surface it should skate and skip along the surface of the paint creating random scratches. Repeat this with each color until you are happy with the overall look. Then you can go back and add a few more controlled scratches, or use the edge of the pencil to run along sharp edges of the vehicle, simulating the same effect you get with dry brushing, but you have a little more control.

streetsquid

Just a few more pics tonight.

Next we'll paint the wheels and add a few detail bits, before we do a final dusting with the airbrush and then add pastels. We're in the home stretch now so stay tuned. More to follow..........................

Squid

YHR

Awesome

hdbeast

Well done, thanks for the tips

Gary

googlydoogly

Looking real good! I agree, the chipping effect can easily make or brake your work. It's quite tedious, so sometimes, you find yourself rushing your chipping work and the result doesn't turn out as well as you might had hoped.

But you did an excellent job on it. And thanks for the tip concerning prismacolors. I have a full set here, but it never occurred to me to use them to weather models.

streetsquid

Hi all,
A few simple additions tonight.

Using a dark charcoal grey I painted the rubber road wheels and tires. Added a few details, like machine guns, and spare road wheel and tracks.

With the spare track and road wheel I wanted to add some color contrast so I added the dreaded baking soda and acrylic rust effects. The rust texture ended up being a little heavy for a vehicle serving in the arid desert, but overall I'm happy with look. I also added a rust texture the the exhaust canister.

streetsquid

For one final effect I airbrushed a light coating of dust on the wheels, and lower half of the hull.

With all of the painting effects done, I over coated the entire vehicle with Testor's dull coat. I'll let that dry over night and finish the project up with some pastels tomorrow night.

Finish did I say finish, can't believe I used the "F" word.........................................Now I'm thinking it might be kind of cool to scratch build a bed frame mast antennae that was common on many DAK SdKfz's. I think I have some copper rod and tube I could solder up. Hhmmmm, more to follow!

cmryan

Hi Squid, a very impressive result. One question, in many of the pics of weathered DAK vehicles the paint has worn off and the bare metal polished bright by sand, rather than rusted. Have you any tips on reproducing this effect?

Regards,

Chris

streetsquid

YHR and Hdbeast,
Thanks for the kind words gents, I appreciate it.

Glad to see you like the results, I hope you found something useful in this thread. We started this thing just about a week ago, so it as you can see it hasn't take too working just a couple of hours each night.

regards,
Craig

streetsquid

googlydoogly,
The Prisma colors work great. I first tried them several years ago, on a small Sdkfz I did in 1/72 scale. I was just playing around with it and they seem to give me a lot more control than a brush on that small a scale, so I did all of the weathering with pencils. I've included a few pics below

Best of luck, be sure to experiment with multiple colors. One thing to note, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss finishes don't take the pencil near as well as flat paint. I think their surface is too slick or smooth for the pencil lead to adhere too!

Squid

streetsquid

cmryan (Chris),
I too have seen many DAK vehicles that have been heavily worn by the abrasive sand in North Africa. But through years of model making I have also found that when you try to use silver or metallic colors they often look overdone and too shiny.

For some time I tried to perfect using regular graphite (pencil lead), but often found it too was too shiny for my liking. I always had a tendency to minimize my graphite use. It's easy to apply and easy to overdo as well.

To me logic would dictate that if you were in a theater of war with bright sunshine and few places to hide a shiny spot on your vehicle could be deadly. Seems to me that out of self preservation the crews would do everything they could to cover, disquise, or "knock down" the shiny spots, as their lives may very well depend on it. That being said I have always tried to minimize my use of shiny bare metal, and try to oxidize any exposed metals on my models.

On the few areas that I do want the metal to look freshly worn, I have found a product that I think works the best. I use an ebony pencil. It is a specific type of drawing pencil that artist's use for sketching. The lead is extremely soft and therefore very very dark in color. In fact it's almost a black, but still has a convincing metallic sheen to it like other graphite, it's almost takes on a gun metal hue. Available at any art supply or craft store like Michael's, they run about $0.50 a piece ( I know big investment)

I usually undercoat the areas with whatever grey/brown I'm using to represent the oxidized metal on the model, and go back in and hit a few select areas or high points with the ebony pencil. These ares are usually high wear or very pronounced areas, as I only use the pencil to show freshly rubbed areas, They work great on gun slides and moving parts such a breeches as well.

In the 3rd picture below you can see I've added just a slight amount on the hard edge of the armored hood, just to show the final effect.

I hope this helps!

Streetsquid

pcomm1

DAK, beautiful work as always and outstanding color style.

In regards to a bare metal look use the same techniques as described but add "Tamiya gun metal with a hint of flat black" (not silver) atop your base color for chipping effects.

But the brown under the desert yellow, without bright metal chips, is a classic Tamiya model finish style, where overall color is a touch more important than naturalism.

streetsquid

pcomm1,
Thanks for the kind words.

I for one believe shiny metal would be almost non existent on desert vehicles. But the technique you describe sounds like it would be effective. Obviously, I too like the dark yellow over brown base coat, I just never knew it was a "Tamiya" thing. Thanks for sharing.

I think I'm gonna go ahead and scratch the "bed frame" antennae for this SdKfz, I now have all the materials I need, so I'm thinking I'll start a new thread for that.

Thanks for helping to keep this one going and making it interesting and informative for others to read.

Regards,
Squid

pcomm1

Cool model.

You may want to visit the Pima Air Museum and the Bone Yard and take a look at what desert wind blasted metal looks like just after the storm passes.

Of course, the DAK forces and their vehicles had plenty of time to rust (from sitting around) when fighting the British as lead by the snail paced Montgomery.

The DAK forces and their vehicles, when facing the SOB Patton, well, their operational vehicles didn't last long enough in the field to have any time to rust.

And if I can find the will to cut his legs off, this is the CO for the Tamiya Pz4, but that is another story.

streetsquid

pcomm1,

Do It! Hack him off at the lower torso (LOL) Your Desert Fox figure is well done, he deserves to be in command of the Pz IV.

I have seen both, Pima and the bone yard, plus living here there is evidence everywhere of the wear and tear blowing dust and sand can have on things. And you are correct about those aircraft and vehicles but those pieces of machinery are no longer in a combat theater.

It's my belief that the operational crews would not let any exposed areas of metal stay shiny for too long, that could be deadly. Simply wetting the area with perspiration, oil, gas or water than rubbing sand, dirt, or clay over it would help diminish the sheen, or simply rubbing oil from your skin would help to accelerate the oxidation process.

As for your observations about Monty and George............................................ well stated!

Squid

cmryan

Hi Squid,

Thanks for the detailed response and my apologies for not thanking you sooner, I've been somewhat engrossed in applying the techniques you showed to my Tiger and overall I am pleased with the results. I note your comments about the risks associated with shiny metal, but I suspect that high wear areas, eg where the crew are climbing in and out are going to wear down to bear metal pretty soon and any oxidation would be kept off by continuous use. I've used the graphite pencil and found it to be pretty good with careful use, and I'll have a go with the ebony pencil.

I particularly liked your tip of applying a lighter coat around chips to emphasise them and this gives a really good effect. I've used a mid grey with a light coat of graphite to simulate bare metal in high wear areas such as the front edge and round the turret.

You have done a very impressive job, and I appreciate you taking the time to show us all in detail.

Regards,

Chris

streetsquid

Chris,
Glad you found this thread to be helpful and informative. Really happy to hear you have tried some of what's described here and it has worked out to your liking. Obviously like anything else as you practice these techniques you will make subtle changes and further experiments to make it more your own, or hopefully develop something completely new you can share back in the future.

As far as the high wear areas that become shiny. I agree that this would be a never ending process for the crews as things would continue to wear and become shiny on an almost daily basis. But I also believe they would have developed small tricks to minimize these shiny spots, something as simple as wiping their forehead before grabbing a handle, as this would add skin oil and help dust stick to it and speed up oxidation, or spitting on a fender before climbing aboard with a dusty boot.

Either way, it's just a personal preference to minimize bare metal on my vehicles, and go for a more oxidized look. But as I have mentioned in the past I do use both the Ebony, and to a lesser extent regular graphite in limited areas. That's not to say I'm right, it's just the "look" I prefer.

Have you seen the final product, once I added the bed frame antennae? I started another thread to show how to scratch build that out of copper tubing and rod.

regards,
Streetsquid